Need Wedding Reception Dance tips!

P

Panza

Senior Member
Hi guys,

I have a wedding to shoot this Friday and I'm a bit nervous about making dancing shots look interesting. After the important parts happen (speeches, cake, father daughter dance, etc.) and everyone hits the dance floor I suddenly don't know what to do. The slow structured pace of the wedding seems to disappear and everything speeds up, increasing with energy. I'm afraid my reception dance shots will look boring. How do I make dancing people look more interesting?

I'm shooting mainly a D7000 and have a 35/1.8G, 50/1.4D, 35-70/2.8D, and 80-200/2.8D. SB-700 flash.
I also have a full-frame camera with a 35/1.4 but that is manual focus only.

Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it!
 
S

singlerosa_RIP

Senior Member
I don't do weddings, but I do shoot a lot of events. I've found that if you wander around the dance floor, you'll find interesting shots. If not, get people to have fun and then take their pic. Usually, the alcohol will do the job for you. For me, the challenge is the ever-changing light and the background. Here's a couple of shots from two events where first impromptu shot has a well lit background (thanks to high ISO) and the second posed pic has a darker BG. Both with flash (SB-800 shot manual) and D600 2/24-70.

I'd go with the 35-70 and the 80-200 before the primes. Good luck and have fun.

USO_2132.jpg

JFS_0537.jpg
 
kevy73

kevy73

Senior Member
learn to use your flash to great effect. You want it to freeze the people but allow the natural ambient light to come into the pic.

What I do, and what my assistant has been instructed to do is: (yes it will sound scary, but it truly works)

ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/40
Apeture: f4.0
Flash on manual 1/4 power.

Easy to remember - all 4's.

The big thing to remember is put your flash on rear sync. That is the important bit

People panic and think that 1/40 is too slow - believe me, it isn't if you rear sync your flash. I use those settings as my starting point for reception shots. Sometimes you need to increase ISO a tad, or - heaven forbid, decrease the shutter even more - need practice to do that though.

Sometimes I will also increase the ISO to 640 and drop the aperture to f2.8

Don't use your 80-200 - your flash with those settings won't reach far enough. I use mainly my 50mm and 24-70 f2.8


Shots below are taken with those kinds of settings. Do these look boring?

DSC_3536-M.jpg


DSC_9788-M.jpg


DSC_8391-M.jpg


128-DSC_0098-M.jpg
 
P

Panza

Senior Member
kevy73 said:
learn to use your flash to great effect. You want it to freeze the people but allow the natural ambient light to come into the pic.

What I do, and what my assistant has been instructed to do is: (yes it will sound scary, but it truly works)

ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/40
Apeture: f4.0
Flash on manual 1/4 power.

Easy to remember - all 4's.

The big thing to remember is put your flash on rear sync. That is the important bit

People panic and think that 1/40 is too slow - believe me, it isn't if you rear sync your flash. I use those settings as my starting point for reception shots. Sometimes you need to increase ISO a tad, or - heaven forbid, decrease the shutter even more - need practice to do that though.

Sometimes I will also increase the ISO to 640 and drop the aperture to f2.8

Don't use your 80-200 - your flash with those settings won't reach far enough. I use mainly my 50mm and 24-70 f2.8


Shots below are taken with those kinds of settings. Do these look boring?
Click to expand...

1/40 should be fine. : )! Thank you for the wonderful tips about flash! My lens that I use 70% of the time is a 50mm full frame so its most comfortable to me : ) I can do without the 80-200 , and perhaps use the 35-70 (50~105) on the D7000
 
G

grandpaw

Senior Member
Let me see if I understand this method of shooting....
Step one..... Get on all fours
Step two.... Start taking pictures
I think I have it!!!
 
SkvLTD

SkvLTD

Senior Member
Hold on, a 7000 or a 750 you listed in your signature? That's a HUGE difference. On 750 you can probably get away with 35-70 and just shoot in landscape orientation to keep the flash lighting consistent and crop out portrait shots later on. On a 7000..... I would not have the balls to try a reception dance, but you'd most definitely want to stick with the 35/1.8 and fancy footwork (haha).
 
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